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US contractors stranded in Iraq under threat of imminent attack: 'We are sitting ducks'

Wed 18 Mar 2026 09.19 EDT Last modified on Wed 18 Mar 2026 10.46 EDT Hundreds of US contractors are stranded on a major military base near Baghdad, Iraq, with no evacuation plan, while local Iran-backed militants are possibly making plans to attack the base, three sources said. The contractors are employed on the Martyr Brigadier General Ali Flaih Air Base, formerly Balad Air Base, to support the Iraqi government’s F-16 fighter jet program. “With more than 200 American nationals on the base, ...

mahatmakanejeeves

Pentagon seeks more than $200 billion in budget request for Iran war

WP Exclusive Pentagon seeks more than $200 billion in budget request for Iran war Some White House officials do not think the Defense Department's request has a realistic shot of being approved in Congress, one senior administration official said. March 18, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. EDT President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in September. (Tom Brenner/For The Washington Post) By Noah Robertson, Jeff Stein and Riley Beggin The Pentagon has asked th ...

BumRushDaShow

White House offers concession on body cameras in bid to end DHS shutdown

March 17, 2026 Updated March 18, 2026, 10:36 a.m. ET WASHINGTON ‒ Seeking to end the rapidly worsening shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, the White House has offered to expand the use of body-worn cameras for federal immigration enforcement agents and limit their activities at churches, schools, and hospitals. But a month into the crisis, the Trump administration is still holding firm on one of the more contentious parts of the debate to reform the 9/11-era Cabinet agency, ...

BumRushDaShow

Fed votes to hold rates steady, notes 'uncertain' impacts from Iran war

Published Wed, Mar 18 2026 2:00 PM EDT Updated 23 Min Ago WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday voted to hold its key interest rate steady as policymakers navigate their way through higher-than-expected inflation readings, mixed signs on the labor market - and a war. In a widely expected decision, the Federal Open Market Committee voted 11-1 to keep the benchmark federal funds rate anchored in a range between 3.5%-3.75%. The rate sets overnight funding costs for banks but influences a ...

BumRushDaShow

Fifa responds to Iran request to move their World Cup games from United States

Wednesday 18 March 2026 07:49 EDT Fifa has appeared to rule out the possibility of relocating Iran’s matches at the World Cup to Mexico following the US and Israeli airstrikes on the country. It comes after the president of the Iranian football federation, Mehdi Taj, said Iran was “negotiating” with Fifa to move the team’s matches outside of the United States due to the ongoing conflict. US president Donald Trump said last week that he did not believe it was “appropriate” for Iran to play ga ...

BumRushDaShow

Trumpflation: Wholesale prices rose 0.7% in February, much more than expected

(CNBC) Wholesale prices rose sharply in February, providing another sign that inflation continues to percolate even aside from rising energy prices. The producer price index, a measure of pipeline costs that producers receive for their products, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.7% on the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core PPI increased 0.5%. Excluding food, energy and trade services, PPI rose 0.5%. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for increases of 0.3% for both measures.

BumRushDaShow

Democrats urge windfall tax as big oil set to make billions from Iran war

(The Guardian) With big oil companies poised to reap billions of dollars in profits from the war in Iran, Democratic lawmakers and progressive groups are calling for a windfall tax on major fossil fuel companies. The US-Israeli strikes on Iran have triggered the largest ever disruption to fuel supply, according to the International Energy Agency, sending crude costs surging over $100 per barrel in recent days. Those high prices have hit US pocketbooks, with average domestic gas prices topping $3.70 a gallon, and Americans spending more than an additional $2bn to fill their tanks in the past fortnight according to one estimate. As ordinary people struggle, corporations are seeing windfall gains.

IcyPeas

Everyone but Trump Understands What He’s Done

(The Atlantic) NATO faces a “very bad” future if it doesn’t help clear the strait, Trump told the Financial Times. He has also said he is not asking but ordering seven countries to help. In Trump’s mind, these threats are justified: He has a problem right now, so he wants other countries to solve it. He doesn’t seem to remember or care what he said to their leaders last month or last year, nor does he know how his previous decisions shaped public opinion in their countries or harmed their interests. But they remember, they care, and they know. Specifically, they remember that for 14 months, the American president has tariffed them, mocked their security concerns, and repeatedly insulted them.

BumRushDaShow

John Bolton Says He Briefed Trump On Strait of Hormuz Scenarios That the President Now Claims Ignorance About

(Mediaite) Former National Security Advisor John Bolton told CNN he briefed President Donald Trump on multiple Iran retaliation scenarios during his first term, despite the president now claiming he’s “shocked” by Iran’s actions. Bolton, who served under Trump before a public falling out, joined CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Tuesday evening, where he was surprised to hear Trump had “indicated” he wasn’t made aware of the potential of retaliatory strikes Iran has since made against neighboring countries and the Strait of Hormuz, where a significant amount of the world’s oil moves through.

BumRushDaShow

Gabbard backs Trump after intelligence official resigns over Iran war

(Scripps News) Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is defending President Donald Trump's authority to take military action against Iran. "After carefully reviewing all the information before him, President Trump concluded that the terrorist Islamist regime in Iran posed an imminent threat and he took action based on that conclusion," Gabbard said in a post on social media. Gabbard released the statement hours after Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned over objections to the Iran war. Kent served under Gabbard within the U.S. intelligence community.

Latest Breaking News

Tulsi Gabbard stuns senator by saying it's not her job to 'determine what is ... an imminent threat' to the US

4 min ago - Wednesday 18 March 2026 19:49 EDT Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard pointedly refused to say whether Iran presented an “imminent” nuclear threat to America before the U.S. launched its war, angering Democratic senators during ... (The Independent)

US national debt surges past $39 trillion just weeks into war in Iran

30 min ago - Updated 7:47 PM EDT, March 18, 2026 WASHINGTON (AP) — The national debt surpassed a record $39 trillion on Wednesday, a milestone that comes just weeks into the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. The unprecedented figure highlights competing administrati ... (AP)

Democrats brush off latest DHS counteroffer from White House: 'Wholly inadequate'

57 min ago - 03/18/26 7:09 PM ET Democrats on Wednesday sharply criticized the White House’s latest counterproposal aimed at ending the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown, arguing that it falls short of sufficiently addressing their concerns abou ... (The Hill)

'Warrants or bust': House hard-liners deliver ultimatum ahead of spy powers vote

1 hr ago - 03/18/2026 06:45 PM EDT Speaker Mike Johnson is staring down his right flank as he seeks to fulfill President Donald Trump’s demand to extend warrantless government surveillance powers long detested by the conservative hard-liners. Johnson wants ... (Politico)

Senator accuses Blanche of blocking release of unredacted Epstein document

1 hr ago - 11h (Bloomberg) -- Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is blocking the Drug Enforcement Administration from releasing an unredacted document from the Jeffrey Epstein files about an investigation involving drug trafficking and money laundering, acco ... (msn/Bloomberg)

Oil and natural gas prices soar as Iran attacks Gulf energy facilities. Brent crude nears $114

2 hrs ago - BANGKOK (AP) — Global oil and natural gas prices soared Thursday after Iran attacked a key natural gas facility in Qatar that can supply one-fifth of the worlds gas as well as two oil refineries in Kuwait. The attacks added to fears the energy c ... (Associated Press)

Cable news network MS NOW shuffles schedule, moving Stephanie Ruhle and Alicia Menendez to daytime

2 hrs ago - Updated 5:09 PM EDT, March 18, 2026 NEW YORK (AP) — The cable news network MS NOW is shuffling its schedule, moving anchors Stephanie Ruhle and Alicia Menendez into the daytime hours and shaving an hour off “Morning Joe.” Ruhle will an ... (AP)

FBI and IRS to investigate nonprofit groups for domestic terrorism links, sources say

2 hrs ago - Updated on: March 18, 2026 / 5:07 PM EDT FBI and IRS agents are forming a new initiative to investigate nonprofit organizations over suspected possible links to domestic terrorism, sources briefed on the matter told CBS News. In December, Attorney Ge ... (CBS News)

Trump Releases Dignified Transfer Photos Despite Families Requesting Private Ceremony White House posts transfer case ph

2 hrs ago - Trump Releases Dignified Transfer Photos Despite Families Requesting Private Ceremony White House posts transfer case photos to social media J.D. Wolf 8 hours ago The Trump administration released official images from Wednesday's dignified ... (meidasnews.com)

The war in Iran is about to hit the helium supply, which is critical for more than just party balloons

3 hrs ago - Posted 4:36 PM, Mar 18, 2026 The cost of gasoline may be getting a lot of the attention, but blockages in the Strait of Hormuz impacts other industries too. Doctors are warning about the possibility of generic drugs being in short supply soon. Farmer ... (Scripps News)

A pastor called off a Target boycott. Then the backlash began.

3 hrs ago - Updated March 18, 2026, 4:06 p.m. ET When Atlanta pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant called off his yearlong Target fast, the announcement set off fireworks. At a hastily convened news conference in front of Target’s Minneapolis headquarters on March ... (USA Today)

Exclusive: DOJ antitrust head says Paramount-Warner Bros deal review is not political

4 hrs ago - March 18, 2026 3:41 PM EDT Updated 5 hours ago WASHINGTON, March 18 (Reuters) - Paramount Skydance's (PSKY.O), proposed acquisition of Warner Bros ​Discovery (WBD.O), will "absolutely not" have a fast track to approval because of political fact ... (Reuters)

US Intelligence Chiefs Pressed on Aid to Ukraine, and Russia's Help for Iran

5 hrs ago - WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. intelligence officials acknowledged Wednesday that a prolonged conflict with Iran could strain the supply chains and munitions needed to support Kyiv, as lawmakers questioned whether Washington can sustain both fronts at on ... (Kyiv Post)

Strikes hit world's largest natural gas field in Iran, and Tehran retaliates with more attacks

8 hrs ago - By JON GAMBRELL, SAM METZ and JULIE WATSON Updated 9:40 PM CDT, March 18, 2026 Leer en español DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran broadened its strikes on major energy facilities in the Middle East, eliciting strong warnings from Gu ... (AP)

House Democrat grills US trademark office on Board of Peace backers

10 hrs ago - March 18 (Reuters) - The top Democratic member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee accused the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Wednesday of helping obscure who controls ‌and profits from Republican President Donald Trump's Board of Peace. ... (Reuters)

College Republicans Chapter Collapses After Erika Kirk's Visit

11 hrs ago - Updated Mar. 18 2026 1:47PM EDT Published Mar. 18 2026 12:50PM EDT An Arkansas college chapter of the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA abruptly cut ties with the conservative organization—less than a week after Erika Kirk visited the ... (Daily Beast)

Hacker says they compromised millions of confidential police tips held by US company

11 hrs ago - A hacker says they have broken into a U.S. platform for searching law enforcement hotline messages ​and compromised more than 8 million confidential tips. In ‌a statement posted online, the hacker - who used the name "Internet Yiff Machine ... (Reuters)

Meta is having trouble with rogue AI agents

11 hrs ago - An AI agent went rogue at Meta, exposing sensitive company and user data to employees who did not have permission to access. Per an incident report, which was viewed and reported on by The Information, a Meta employee posted on an internal forum aski ... (TechCrunch)

US aircraft carrier moves away from Iran war for repairs after fire

11 hrs ago - PUBLISHED Mar 18, 2026, 3:36 PM ET The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier is moving away from operations tied to the Iran war and sailing to the US Navy’s base in Crete for repairs after a fire broke out in the ship’s laundry area last wee ... (CNN Politics)

Trump dismantling storied research institute is 'collateral damage' in crusade against Colorado

11 hrs ago - Mar 18th, 2026, 2:48 pm The Trump administration is engaged in a "campaign of retaliation" against Colorado by targeting a decades-old research institute in the Mile High State, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court this week. The first ink ... (Law & Crime)

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